God's breaking my bank!

We took dear Uncle Bob and Aunt Syl to the airport today....*sigh*. I am missing them already.

It's been an eventful week and somehow God has been very productive because we got nearly everything done that we had set out to do! We even got in a walk down by Kits Beach with our group home boys! With a hot drink in hand, we watched the sunset and felt the freezing wind ice our cheeks. Good times...hence the picture.

This Tuesday, Tim and I are having a benefit dinner to share our vision and describe our journey to the Philippines. Originally we had advertised it as a fun "Spaghett-to-gether"and we were going to charge $15 per plate. A week before the event, we only had one person signed up. I felt discouraged and confused. Sooo many people had showed an interest and many people had committed to coming and yet as time got closer, people started dropping like flies.

It was hard enough asking people to come to a dinner that I was cooking and charging $15 THEN asking them to partner with us monthly to support God's call of midwifery service in the developing world. I was feeling sick of focusing on money and finances....of planning and researching ways of funding our mission to the Philippines....it wasn't my heart....it wasn't ME...I didn't feel a peace about this dinner. I felt sick and I began to pray...

"Lord...there's gotta be an easier way...I just want to be a good steward of YOUR resources and I don't want to come across as a jerk or someone only concerned with money....and Lord, I want this process to build relationships and connect others with a vision....I want to excite people....what do I do, Lord!?"

And then I felt a peace. And the Lord whispered, "Did I tell you that you had to charge for this dinner? Just share my heart and do what you love to do....serve."

YEAH!!!! I felt released to be me...released to change the whole thought process of the evening. I immediately started calling old friends and people who I knew loved us.....even though we had thought of just sending some of these people letters, we now felt a release to serve them....FOR FREE....to share the vision person to person without fear of not getting reimbursed for the money put out for the food itself.

We called people we had never thought of before and people God had placed in our path just recently. We told them that we wanted them to come to a BIG free family benefit dinner at our house to raise awareness and support for the biggest change and move of our lives and that it was imperative that they be a part of that. Within two days we got 14 people! I ENJOYED inviting people to a relaxing and fun dinner at our house....it wasn't difficult and I didn't feel like I was trying to be someone I'm not.

With just a few days left before our BIG dinner, people are still writing and calling to let me know whether they can come. For the first time in fundraising for this MASSIVE undertaking, I feel at peace and without fear. I am so glad God owns the bank.

Because of the vision and calling God has made clear in our lives, we cannot stop what we are doing out of fear of financial insecurity....we press on. And when we get discouraged, we remember the passage God gave us two years ago.....

Hebrews 11:8-16

"8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

Yeah God! Be blessed!